FEVER PITCH

Mullins' mare looks banker of the week

- By Mark Winstanley

THERE are 51 weeks of the year which are ruined by fellowing football clubs with overpaid prima donnas, horses who don’t perform as they should and children who are put on this Earth to cause you as much pain and grief as humanly possible.

But for the next four glorious days we can sit back and enjoy the Cheltenham Festival, which makes the other 361 ticks in the calendar worth all the tears and aggravation.

Looking back at last season’s jamboree in darkest Gloucestershire, what struck me was the number of gambles landed on the day.

On Tuesday, Myretown was 16-1 in the morning to snare the Ultima Handicap Chase and was hammered into 13-2 as the tapes flew back, and he bolted up by 11 lengths from 23 rivals.

On Friday, Kargese was levered from 6-1 into 3-1 when obliging in the County Hurdle, and Jasmin De Vaux was smashed from 12-1 into 6-1 when landing the Potato Race, aka the Albert Bartlett Novice Hurdle.